Kurt Knispel

Kurt Knispel (20 September 1921-28 April 1945) was a Feldwebel of the German Heer and a panzer commander during World War II.

Biography
Kurt Knispel was born on 20 September 1921 in Salisov, Czechoslovakia to a family of Silesian Germans. Knispel joined the Wehrmacht in 1940 as a soldier in the 12th Panzer Division, and he became a naturalized citizen of Nazi Germany. Knispel would fight on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Red Army, and he was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht propaganda show after scoring his 101st tank kill on 25 April 1944. On 28 April 1945, he was seriously injured when his tank exploded during fighting with Soviet tanks near Urbau, Czechoslovakia (Vrbovec, Czech Republic), and he was left behind a church wall with 15 other German bodies after they were killed by the Soviets.